Afternoon Delight
by sookieandsamfan
Summary: Katniss and Peeta share a steamy afternoon while working on the family book.  Set during Catching Fire. I own nothing.


*This is just a simple one shot that I dreamed up about Peeta and Katniss; set before they knew they were going back into the Quarter Quell right after Katniss gets hurt when the fence gets turned back on in Catching Fire. Enjoy.

Every afternoon Peeta would come over to help Katniss work on the family book. Some days, for a change of pace, he would carry her downstairs to sit on the couch, and they would spread their stuff out on the coffee table. Katniss' foot was healing, but it was still too tender to put weight on.

The day before, Katniss had been staring at Peeta's long eyelashes when he'd noted how this was the first time they'd ever done anything normal together. He was absolutely right of course. The Hunger Games were anything but normal.

Peeta and Katniss had grown closer since coming home from the Victory Tour. Peeta had been hurt and kept his distance after Katniss had admitted her feelings for him in the Games were all for show. They'd made a truce though, and Peeta had agreed to continue playing along once he learned President Snow would hurt their families if he found out their relationship was a sham. They were even engaged now hoping to quell any of Snow's suspicions.

Peeta's love for Katniss was stronger than ever, and Katniss was beginning to wonder if maybe her feelings weren't just for show after all. She'd always cared about Peeta, the boy with the bread, and they were close friends for sure, but she'd felt butterflies a few times recently when they'd been together, and it had surprised her.

The night Katniss hurt her foot, her mother had given her sleep syrup easing her pain and lowering her inhibitions. She'd had to fight from asking Peeta to crawl in bed with her and hold her, and that was her first indication that perhaps she was falling in love with him for real. It was so complicated, though, with Gale and Peeta both in her life full time.

She'd caught herself staring at Peeta the day before taking note of how handsome he was and wanting to kiss him. They kissed for show all the time, but they hadn't kissed other than a quick peck for a picture since they'd returned from the Victory Tour. The evidence seemed to piling up that perhaps she was no longer just pretending to love him, but Katniss wasn't great with emotions, and she certainly wasn't ready to face them.

Today, the sun was shining in the windows providing great light for Katniss and Peeta to work on the book. They'd mostly been cataloguing the medicinal uses of plants. Peeta would paint the flower or herb, and then Katniss would print its uses underneath.

Katniss' mom was in town making rounds. A number of local children had recently come down with the flu. Prim was still at school, so Katniss and Peeta were alone, an unusual situation. Cameras were almost always watching or they were surrounded by people.

Peeta was drawing chamomile.

"I just don't know how you make it look so real," Katniss complimented him. "It's perfect."

"Thanks," Peeta replied smiling. It's really all about the shading."

"I wish I could draw like that," Katniss commented honestly. She admired Peeta's talent and knew he used it as a way to communicate his emotions. He'd painted dozens of images from the Hunger Games.

"I could teach you," Peeta offered.

"Yeah right," Katniss rolled her eyes. "Art is a talent that I don't have."

"How do you know?" Peeta shot back. Katniss smiled at his victory. "I guess I don't," she said. "I just wouldn't know where to start."

Peeta pushed the book aside and set a couple of pieces of paper with brushes and paint on the coffee table. "Let's give it a whirl then." _Just like Peeta, _Kantiss thought to herself. Always pushing people to be their best.

"Let's start simple," he said. "How about we draw a sunset? It's a good shading lesson."

"Sure," Katniss said and watched as Peeta quickly transformed his piece of paper into a sunset scene that would make you swear your outside. "Now you try," he said we he was done.

"I can't do that," Katniss said although not wanting to be a complete failure, she did at least dip her paintbrush into the orange paint and started painting something round that could have been a sun.

"Not bad," Peeta said encouragingly. "Oh please," Katniss laughed. "It's terrible."

"It's not," he said, "you just need to make it look more real. Here," he said taking her hand and forcing her to dip her brush into the red. He then guided her back over the paper and started outlining the edge of one side of the circle she'd managed to paint. It looked much better with the shading technique, but Katniss was too caught up to care. Peeta's hand felt warm and strong, and he was leaning super close to her, so she could smell the light scent of fresh bread.

Peeta caught her staring at him instead of the paper; he smiled and said, "What?"

Katniss answered him by leaning in for a kiss. She couldn't help herself. Peeta was so surprised he barely had time to close his eyes before she pulled back and leaned her forehead against his. "I just really wanted to do that," she said. Though a bit shocked, Peeta was not going to let this opportunity pass him by. Katniss had made it clear before that her feelings were only for show, but perhaps she had changed her mind, especially since she kissed him for no reason other than she just wanted to.

He put down the paintbrush, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again. She didn't resist at all; in fact, she laced her arms around his neck so she could pull herself closer to him and deepen the kiss.

Fireworks may as well have been going off. These kisses were different than any they'd shared before. They were real and passionate. Peeta laced one hand in Katniss' hair and placed the other on the small of her back holding her close.

Surprising both of them, Katniss moved so that she could straddle Peeta sitting on his lap. Whatever pain she had in her foot was gone right now as she was so caught up in this amazing moment with Peeta.

All she could feel were his lips on her lips and his hands holding her as tight as possible.

Once, during the first games, they'd shared a kiss that stirred something deep inside her, but she had never allowed herself to explore it further; now, she was truly the girl on fire. Being close with Peeta this way, alone with no cameras watching, was awakening something inside her she didn't know was there.

Peeta definitely had questions about what was going on, but he wasn't about to stop and ask. He was happy to act now and ask questions later.

Peeta and Katniss continued making out for at least another 10 minutes. Katniss' eyes rolled back in her head as Peeta's lips left hers to trail down her neck and back up again. He was an amazing kisser. For a fleeting second she wondered if he'd practiced with someone else, but she put that to the back of her mind and continued enjoying what was happening.

About 5 minutes later the front door suddenly swung open and Prim walked through saying loudly, "Mom, I'm home?" She said the last word as a question as she spotted Peeta and Katniss lip-locked on the couch. They broke apart quickly, and Katniss slipped off of Peeta's lap back onto the couch.

"Hey Prim," she said as she adjusted her disheveled clothing. Peeta couldn't even look at Prim yet he was so embarrassed.

"We were just...," Katniss trailed off not knowing how to finish.

"Making out?" Prim responded. There was a moment of silence, and then all three burst out laughing.

"I don't know why you're so embarrassed," Prim said noticing both of their blushed faces. "You're engaged; I think it's alright for you to kiss; I'll just give you some privacy though," she said laughing again as she bounded up the stairs to her room.

Katniss looked at Peeta, and they both giggled again too. Peeta ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, that was…" he trailed off.

"Awkward?" Katniss said laughing, but Peeta got serious and took her hand in his. "Actually, I was going to say amazing. That's the first time we've ever really kissed; I mean for real."

"I know," Katniss responded smiling, "And I agree, it was amazing." As Katniss finished the last sentence, she leaned in for another kiss.

Prim watched from the top of the stairs smiling. She knew Katniss' claims to just pretend to be in love with Peeta were bogus. Peeta brought out a side of Katniss that she'd never seen, and she'd been hoping Katniss would come to her senses and realize how amazing Petta was. She kept her promise to give them some privacy and headed to her room grinning from ear to ear.

*I feel like this could have fit in for a bit and then things could have gone downhill a bill when they found out they had to go back to games. Hope you liked it.


End file.
